Cignal turned back Savouge Aesthetics, 34-32, 25-22, 25-22, to regain its winning ways and advance to the Spikers’ Turf Invitational Conference semifinals on Friday at Paco Arena.
Licking the wounds of their tough five-set loss to University of Santo Tomas-Gameville last Wednesday, the Super Spikers vented their ire on the Spin Doctors to improve to 5-2 and join unbeaten Criss Cross and guest teams Kindai University (Japan) and ProVolley Academy (Australia).
Louie Ramirez led Cignal with 14 points and 12 receptions. Lloyd Josafat added 10 points, including four blocks, while Wendel Miguel and Jau Umandal had nine each.
‘The score was close, but the difference was really the soft skills,’ said Cignal coach Dexter Clamor. ‘Things like patience, intensity, aggressiveness, stuff you don’t always see on the court. Our mental toughness was probably our edge in this game. We were just really hungry to win because that loss to UST really stung.’
Savouge fell to 4-3 in third place. Reymark Betco and Giles Torres paced the Spin Doctors with nine points each.
Meanwhile, Criss Cross remained unbeaten in six games after sweeping UST-Gameville, 25-22, 25-15, 25-21.
Garcia led the King Crunchers with 19 points. Poy Colinares haunted his college team with 10 points, as Jaron Requinton and Noel Kampton added eight points apiece.
‘Coming from our game against FEU-DN Steel, we reminded ourselves that just because they’re a collegiate team doesn’t mean they won’t fight,’ said Colinares. ‘They’re here because they qualified through the V-League, which is no joke. In men’s volleyball here, no matter your age, whether you’re a pro or a college player, you can definitely keep up.’
UST-Gameville dropped to 4-2, with Al-Bukharie Sali leading the charge with 12 points.
Alpha Insurance revived its semifinal chances with a 25-18, 25-21, 25-19 win over PGJC-Navy.
Paolo Javelona led the Protectors with 13 points, while Barbie San Andres added 12 points and 10 receptions as they improved to a 3-3 record.
Navy remained winless in six games. Joeven Dela Vega and Peter Quiel had eight points each.
The also-ran FEU-DN Steel ended a three-game slide with a 25-16, 25-21, 25-18 sweep of VNS with Dryx Saavedra and Lirick Mendoza finishing with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
The Tamaraws improved to 2-4, while VNS dropped to 1-5